Bragging rights for "next best" unresolved

International footy is still searching for its first home-grown recruit
to make it to the AFL, the undisputed premier Aussie Rules league in
the world. We're also yet to see such a footballer make it to the second
best league in the world. But what is that league? The top three
contenders would clearly be the state competitions of Victoria, South
Australia and Western Australia. For our international readers to
understand better what sits beneath AFL level, we look at the matches which see
the best non-AFL players from each league come together to play
traditional interstate footy, with one match each year, giving a 2 year cycle
of matches. On the line is bragging rights for the winners to claim
theirs to be the best comp outside of the AFL.

Australian interstate matches are certainly lower profile than they
were in the pre-AFL era, when they represented the highest level in footy.
With the drain of players to the expanding VFL competition, which
ultimately became the AFL, state of origin football was introduced, probably reaching its pinnacle in the 1980s.
Victories were then evenly shared amongst the big three Australian Rules states of
Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. But now in this period of
the modern AFL, state of origin has been abandoned, and the primary interstate football played is at the next tier down, between the respective
state leagues. These leagues have undergone some major changes in the last 20 years. The Victorian Football League (formerly the VFA), was
reconstructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in part to stem the flow
of players out of the state, as they sought the highest standard possible to force their way into the AFL. The South Australian league was widely regarded as the best place to play to prove yourself to AFL talent
scouts. A major change for the VFL was from 2000, when the unselected players from Victorian AFL clubs started playing in the VFL, initially with AFL reserves sides and
eventually with each Victorian AFL club having a relationship with a VFL club (although some VFL sides remain unaligned). Similarly the unselected players
from the SA and WA AFL clubs play in their local state leagues, although there
are not fixed club alignments, with the players spread over the clubs.

So it is in this environment of change that the leagues do battle. In 1999, the SANFL defeated the VFL by 4 goals at the MCG as a curtain
raiser to the last ever state of origin match. In 2000 the SANFL
defeated the WAFL by 42 points, and in 2001 the Croweaters won again, by 38
points over the VFL at Adelaide Oval. The SANFL were thus very comfortable
in the knowledge that their's was the best state league in the country.
But 2002 saw a rude shock for the South Aussies as the VFL crushed them
by 56 points. SA bounced back quickly, with a 60 point win over the
WAFL in 2003 in Fremantle. In 2004 the Victorian Football League (which
includes players from Tasmania) also defeated the Western Australians,
by 11 points in Perth. Last weekend was the SANFL's chance for revenge
over the Big V, when the SANFL headed to Teac Oval in Melbourne, one of
the venues for this year's International Cup. In a close battle, the
South Aussies stayed in front for much of the match, although the lead
changed hands 12 times. Thanks particularly to more accurate kicking on goal, the SANFL managed to win, by just 4 points, in a high
quality match. Two former Victorians were involved in the winning goal for SA
- perhaps ironically given the number of times South Aussies used to
line up for the Big V in years past (perhaps none more notable than
champion Malcolm Blight, who captained both states at various times).

So what has all this proven, besides being a review of recent history?
Probably that in the current era, there is very little between the VFL and
SANFL, with the WAFL not far behind. The other state leagues also
compete occasionally, with Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales matching
up against each other. In 2002 the WAFL beat the Queenslanders soundly
by 111 points, indicating a significant gap below the big three,
although this should be closing as Aussie Rules grows in popularity in
Queensland and NSW. And we're starting to see a few international
footballers making their way into Australian leagues, such as New Zealanders in
Canberra, Americans in the amateurs in Melbourne and Sydney, and Papuans
playing for various Queensland clubs. So perhaps the next step won't
be an AFL draftee as we all hope, but rather an international moving up
from amateur to state league level in Victoria, SA or WA. Let's hope
we see it happen within the next five years.